Local Leaders Will Make the Difference

There is excitement and expectation around the country and the world about the president-elect and his plans for the future. Despite the economic, energy, and health care issues we face, there are signs of hopefulness. We saw that hopefulness in real time these last two weeks at our LeadershipPlenty trainings in Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Virginia. By the end of this week in these four sites alone, we will have trained 175 people from 60 communities to offer this skill-based leadership program in their communities. We concluded the training in Roanoke, VA (our partnership with Virginia Tech) yesterday afternoon. The roster of that training speaks volumes about who is interested in community change in our country. Among the participants in this train-the-trainer institute were two current (and one former) elected officials, a Chamber of Commerce executive and a Chamber board member, non-profit leaders from a variety of community development, arts, and economic development organizations in rural and urban communities, a person representing extension, three community college staff people, a community foundation staff person, two pasters, a person who trains Vista and Americorps volunteers, a college professor, a Main Street director, a local business person, and two state government community developers. Now if you are looking for a pattern here--don't. This group represented our communities in the best possible way. From a variety of perspectives, all of these folks want to make a difference, want to engage more people in the community and the region, and want to build on the incredible assets that exist everywhere. As we listened to their plans for implementation, we heard college students, churches, senior citizens, arts organizations, rural regions,and small cities. 

Last year more than 5,000 people participated in LeadershipPlenty programs around the country. We expect the same or more this year. What all of this tells me is that we are building a momentum in this country for change that we haven't seen in a long time. Some of that change will come from Washington, DC, and state capitals but most of it will come from main street. We saw the beginnings of it this week with the 160 communities that now have newly certified LeadershipPlenty certified trainers. You will hear more about these programs in the coming weeks.